Great Barrier Reef to get backyard mud dump after coal port expansion

A tourist swims on the Great Barrier Reef in this undated file picture. (Reuters / Great Barrier Reef National
Park Authority) / Reuters

Vast quantities dredged sand and mud will be dumped right by Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef to create a multi-billion-dollar coal port – the world’s biggest. The authority watching over the UNESCO World Heritage site just gave the green light.

What the dumping permit awarded by The Great Barrier Reef Marine
Park Authority does is allow two Indian firms and an Australian
billionaire miner Gina Rinehart to expand the country’s port of
Abbot Point in order to tap into the coal-rich inland Galilee
Basin.

The companies and Rinehart have a collective $16 billion in coal
projects waiting to be started, Reuters explains. The two
terminals planned by Adani Enterprises and the joint GVK-Hancock
venture between India’s GVK group and Rinehart’s Hancock
Prospecting, wish to export 120 million tons of coal a year
together.

UNESCO had declared the place a World Heritage site in 1981. It
supports a fantastic array of marine species and plant life. The
Great Barrier Reef is nearly the size of the US state of Montana,
covering an area of some 350,000 square kilometers. Over 2,000
different fish species exist there, with new ones being
discovered each year; while coral species number a huge 4,000
species.

Environmentalists, scientists, tour operators and many others had
fought the plan on the premise that ship traffic around the
fragile corals and seagrass will double. After all, the beauty of
the landmark is already quickly fading due to rising water
temperatures and changing ecological conditions.

A collective letter was sent to the chairman of the independent
watchdog authority, Russell Reichart, explaining that “the
best available science makes it very clear that expansion of the
port at Abbot Point will have detrimental effects on the Great
Barrier Reef. Sediment from dredging can smother corals and
seagrasses and expose them to poisons and elevated
nutrients.”

Greenpeace joined the chorus, saying that the dump will become an
“international embarrassment,” adding that going ahead
with the project is tantamount to dumping garbage onto Vatican
City or into the Grand Canyon and other sites of cultural
importance.

But even UNESCO itself, in consultation with the Australian
government, has decided to hold off on its decision to classify
the place as “in danger”, or alter its heritage status
in any way until June 2014. It says it is waiting for the
government to submit a report on how it plans to address all the
environmental concerns.

Reichart said in response to all the concerns that Abbot Point’s
expansion will mean less dredging than expanding other ports. The
chairman told reporters in a statement that "it's important
to note the seafloor of the approved disposal area consists of
sand, silt and clay and does not contain coral reefs or seagrass
beds."

The authority did impose strict guidelines on the dumping. They
dictate that no damage is to be done to areas beyond 20km from
the disposal site.

Many, however, believe that the idea of having guidelines is very
dubious, given the lessons of history, including sediment leakage
at other sites. Jon Brodie, a senior researcher at James Cook
university added in an interview to ABC News Online that the
three million cubic meters of sludge, mud and sands will have a
dangerously cumulative effect on the surrounding areas as well,
setting a precedent for harmful developments along the Queensland
coast.

In reference to similar projects along the Great Barrier Reef
coast, he added that the initiative “will add to the
destruction of a system that is already going downhill
badly.”

When the projects will kick off is yet to be decided. The
fluctuating prices of coal and China’s attempts to stabilize its
smog situation by curtailing its reliance on coal energy have put
a dent in Adani and GVK-Hancock’s plans.